What do you need to marry your same-sex partner if you are not Marc Jacobs?
Listen this article
About the wedding of the American designer, we found out how easy it is to really celebrate a gay wedding in the state of New York
The American designer Marc Jacobs married this Saturday April 6 with his fiance and now husband, the model Charly "Char" Defrancesco, in a glamorous wedding with all the royalty of fashion in New York City. With regard to your dream wedding, we review here the history of equal marriage in the state of New York and tell you how easy it is to really get married if you are of the same sex as your partner.
Leer en español: ¿Qué necesitas para casarte con tu pareja del mismo sexo si no eres Marc Jacobs?
Read also: JLo and A-Rod and other weddings that we hope for this year
Equal marriage in New York
Gay marriage is legal in the state of New York since July 2011, when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Equal Marriage Act. This law has no residency restriction, so anyone, whether living in the state of New York or not, can get married there. The Equal Marriage Act also sanctions institutions and entities that refuse to lend and rent spaces to same-sex couples for religious reasons. This law guarantees that the process to obtain a marriage license and then to celebrate it in the municipality is the same for couples of the same sex and of the opposite sex. The state of New York was one of the first in the United States in which the initiative of equal marriage won. That is why, for a long time, until it became legal in the rest of the country in 2013, New York became the epicenter of gay marriage, as many same-sex couples were going to get married in this state.
According to a report from UCLA, almost 50,000 of the 64,000 gay couples declared in the United States are married by the beginning of this year. This would mean that the numbers of gay marriage increased since it became legal in several states. So, since gay marriage is relatively new, couples are still dealing with gay divorces. Jesse Green says in his text From 'I Do' to 'I'm Done' that given the recentness of gay marriage, same-sex divorce is still not well defined and legislated, so it is similar to the heterosexual divorce of the last century.
Thus, although equal marriage is legal throughout the United States, there are still some legal gaps regarding gay divorce that include issues such as custody of children, spousal support, etc. These aspects to be decided during a divorce are in many cases due, in the case of heterosexual marriage, to gender roles that can not be defined in a same-sex couple. Thus, while in some states such as New York and California there are clear laws on gay divorce, in others there is a legal vacuum although equal marriage is legal.
What do I need to get married?
To get back to happier topics, getting married in New York State should not be difficult. Although you may not have a wedding surrounded by the most glamorous celebrities and the most divas of drag queens like Marc Jacobs, you can have a wedding with your same-sex partner in an easy way. To get married in the state of New York, you only need a marriage license that will cost you USD $35. To process it, just fill out the application online or go to fill it at the City Clerk. It will take some time but, depending on the day, you can have it soon. The license has a validity of 60 days and a wait of 24 hours to make the union valid.
To get married in the municipality, you must pay a cost of USD $25 that costs the ceremony and must be improvised. The municipality of the State of New York does not admit any type of reservation, since it offers its service certain times according to the order of arrival. In this way, this state is the ideal to elope. In addition to these few dollars you will need, you must also carry your identification and a witness. The ceremony can last up to less than five minutes, so do not be surprised if you see a long line.
As stated above, the equal marriage act guarantees that no heterosexual couple has any advantage or privilege over a gay couple. So, you do not have to be Marc Jacobs to have the right to marriage in the state of New York.
Read also: These 2 celebrities are involved in the admissions fraud
LatinAmerican Post | Staff
Translated from "¿Qué necesitas para casarte con tu pareja del mismo sexo si no eres Marc Jacobs?"
